Christian McCaffrey put on his helmet and walked back onto the practice field at the 49ers' Santa Clara facility Sunday, his first appearance since August 8, and immediately made the play of the day, taking a handoff through the line and breaking into the open field for a substantial gain. The 49ers exhaled. McCaffrey, for his part, seemed puzzled by the drama.
"Obviously when you don't practice, the way the media works now is a firestorm," he said. "This was kind of part of the plan from the jump, to ramp up pretty big, get nine, 10 practices in. Then, come back down and then ramp back up so we're fresh for the duration."
The extended absence had generated two storylines, one medical, one contractual. The medical story, McCaffrey sat out with what the team described as general tightness, missed both of San Francisco's first two preseason games and had coach Kyle Shanahan telling reporters last week that "if it wasn't Christian and we were in a game week, I think he would play today."
The contractual speculation: league circles had whispered that McCaffrey might be staging a hold-in for a contract extension. He denied it Sunday. "I don't think it had anything to do with it."
George Kittle also returned Sunday, activated off the PUP list, and participated in individual drills. San Francisco's last preseason game is Thursday against the Raiders before the season opener September 10 against the Rams in Melbourne, Australia.
McCaffrey will not play Thursday. He will be ready for Melbourne.